The Wager (Part One)

As he walked back to the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Yue suddenly regretted what he had done earlier. He knew he'd been too impulsive.

There was no denying that Lady Tsunade's words had been harsh, and Yue had been angry. But who was she? She was a renowned powerhouse in the Shinobi World!

And who was he? Just a student at the Ninja Academy. What right did he have to lose his temper in front of Lady Tsunade?

Besides, the Third Hokage had been there, too. Yue's outburst hadn't just offended Lady Tsunade; it had also offended the Third Hokage. Thinking of how he still had to live in Konoha, Yue couldn't help regretting his actions. Could he really live peacefully in Konoha after angering the Third Hokage?

All Yue could do now was hope that the Third Hokage was magnanimous enough to forgive his earlier rudeness.

Even so, Yue couldn't focus on his training for the rest of the afternoon. Even Uchiha Obito, who usually trained alongside him, could tell that something was wrong and told him to go home and get some rest. Obito apparently thought Yue was feeling down because he hadn't managed to defeat Hatake Kakashi.

Yue was in a bad mood on his way home, and he was furious with himself for being so reckless.

But just as he was berating himself for acting too impulsively, the Third Hokage appeared in front of him again.

Seeing the same kind smile on the Third Hokage's face, Yue felt himself relax a little.

The Third Hokage walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder before Yue could apologize. "Yue, that's just how Tsunade is. Don't take it to heart. And I was too hasty in asking her to take you on as her student without her permission. Let's put the unpleasantness behind us."

At those words, the heavy stone in Yue's heart finally lifted.

At a time like this, how could Yue possibly blame the Third Hokage or Lady Tsunade?

So as soon as the Third Hokage finished speaking, Yue hurriedly replied, "Third Hokage, I was the one who acted too impulsively in front of Lady Tsunade. I'm the one who should apologize. I'm sorry. You meant well when you asked Lady Tsunade to take me on as her student, but..."

Yue trailed off and lowered his head, pretending to look dejected.

Seeing this, the Third Hokage sighed deeply. "Yue, I had my own reasons for asking Tsunade to take you on. You don't need to blame yourself too much. War is truly awful. Tsunade's younger brother and her lover both died in battle. And some time ago, she left the village with her lover's niece. I just wanted Tsunade to return to the village, so I introduced you to her as a student. I hope you can understand the thought behind my decision."

"Hm?"

As the Third Hokage spoke, Yue suddenly remembered that, in the original story, Lady Tsunade shouldn't have been in Konoha at this point.

That was right. As the Third Hokage had said, Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki, and her lover, Dan, had both died during the Second Shinobi World War. Dan, the man Tsunade had loved, had died the previous year, in Year 7 of Konoha. Tsunade should now be wandering the Shinobi World with Dan's niece, Shizune, teaching her ninjutsu while recovering from her grief.

Back at the tavern, Yue had been so focused on Tsunade's angry words that he'd overlooked the fact that she wasn't supposed to be in Konoha.

After hearing the Third Hokage's explanation, Yue realized he'd misunderstood him, too.

The Third Hokage hadn't been trying to use Lady Tsunade to keep Yue in check. He'd simply wanted her to return to Konoha.

But now that Yue thought about it, he couldn't help mocking himself. In the eyes of those important figures, he was a nobody. Until now, he'd assumed that the Third Hokage wanted to restrict him because his talent had caught the Hokage's attention. Who would've thought that wasn't the Hokage's intention at all? The realization left Yue feeling annoyed all over again.

People were like that. When they thought too highly of themselves, they often overlooked all sorts of objective factors.

Yue was much more mature than most people, but he was still human, not a god. He could still make mistakes when analyzing a situation.

Still, the Third Hokage's visit put Yue's worries to rest. At least he no longer had to worry about the Hokage or Lady Tsunade coming after him. After talking with Yue for a few minutes, the Third Hokage prepared to return to the Hokage Office to work. The Second Shinobi World War had only recently ended, and there was still plenty for him to handle in the village.

Now that his worries had passed, Yue was ready to resume training hard and improve his strength.

His determination to get stronger had grown even stronger, too. It wasn't for any other reason—he simply wanted others to take him seriously!

That day, instead of returning to the training ground at home, Yue went to Training Ground No. 8 in Konoha.

He started by practicing his kunai throws. But since he'd only recently made a breakthrough in throwing weapons, he didn't make much progress. Still, training wasn't something that could be accomplished overnight. Yue understood that even a steady drip could wear through stone, so he didn't dwell on it.

After finishing his weapons training, Yue practiced Hand Seals, Taijutsu, and ninjutsu.

Once he'd completed all that training, the main event of the day finally arrived: chakra control.

After practicing tree climbing and Water Walking, it was clear that his chakra control training needed to become more challenging.

Chakra control was crucial, without a doubt. After thinking it over for a while, Yue decided to focus on creating a new technique: the Rasengan!

That's right, creating the Rasengan, not training with it.

In the original story, the Fourth Hokage had created the Rasengan. It was a high-level technique that required no hand seals and had no chakra nature.

Even though Yue had seen Jiraiya teach Naruto how to use it in the original story, knowing how it was taught was one thing; truly mastering it was another. Trying to learn it based only on what he remembered from the story would be about as difficult as creating it himself. Besides, the Fourth Hokage probably hadn't created the Rasengan yet. If Yue wanted to make the technique his own, he didn't mind copying it in the slightest.

The easiest way to create the Rasengan was undoubtedly to follow the method Jiraiya had used to teach Naruto.

So Yue took the balloon he'd prepared earlier from his ninja pouch and got ready to begin with the first step.

But just as Yue was about to start developing the Rasengan, a figure in the distance caught his eye.

And when he recognized who it was, his brow furrowed once more.

"Lady Tsunade, what's she doing here?"